The uk has been described as a "cultural superpower"

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Football in Britain is renowned for the intense rivalries between clubs and the passion of the supporters, which includes a tradition of football chants, which are one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song tradition in the UK.^[285] Chants include "You're Not Singing Any More" (or its variant "We Can See You Sneaking Out!"), sung by jubilant fans towards the opposition fans who have gone silent (or left early).^[286] Many teams in the UK have their own club anthem or have a song closely associated with them, for example “You'll Never Walk Alone” by Liverpool-based rock band Gerry and the Pacemakers, and "Local Hero" by Dire Straits frontman and Newcastle United fan Mark Knopfler, is played before the start of every Liverpool and Newcastle home game.^[287] Throughout the UK, meat pies (as well as burgers and chips) is a traditional hot food eaten at football games either before kick-off or during half time. The purchase of a football programme (a pre-match magazine produced by the home team that gives details on that day's game, including player profiles, recent form, interviews etc.) is also part of the 'ritual' of attending a football match in the UK. The Football Association dropped its ban on floodlights in 1950, and night games attracted increasingly large crowds of fans–some of them unruly—as well as large television audiences. Architects built bigger stadia, and "their cantilevered constructions dwarfing mean streets, supplanted the cathedral as a symbol of the city's identity and aspirations".^[288]
Golf[edit]
The modern game of golf originated in Scotland, with the Fife town of St Andrews known internationally as the "home of golf".^[289] and to many golfers the Old Course, an ancient links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.^[290] In 1764, the standard 18 hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes.^[291] Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course in the world by Guinness World Records.^[292] The oldest known rules of golf were compiled in March 1744 in Leith.^[293] The oldest golf tournament in the world, and the first major championship in golf, The Open Championship, first took place in Ayrshire, Scotland in 1860, and today it is played on the weekend of the third Friday in July.^[294] Golf's first superstar Harry Vardon, a member of the fabled Great Triumvirate who were pioneers of the modern game, won the Open a record six times. Since the 2010s, three Northern Irish golfers have had major success; Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and four time major winner Rory McIlroy.^[295] The biennial golf competition, the Ryder Cup, is named after English businessman Samuel Ryder who sponsored the event and donated the trophy.^[296] Sir Nick Faldo is the most successful British Ryder Cup player.
Rugby[edit]

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales prior to a Wales vs England Six Nations Championship game. The annual rugby union tournament (which includes Scotland and Ireland) takes place over six weeks from late January/early February to mid March.
In 1845, rugby union was created when the first rules were written by pupils at Rugby School, Warwickshire.^[297] A former pupil of the school William Webb Ellis, is often fabled with the invention of running with the ball in hand in 1823. The first rugby international took place on 27 March 1871, played between England and Scotland.^[298] By 1881 both Ireland and Wales had teams, and in 1883 the first international competition the annual Home Nations Championship took place. In 1888, the Home Nations combined to form what is today called the British and Irish Lions, who now tour every four years to face a Southern Hemisphere team. The Wales team of the 1970s, which included a backline consisting of Gareth Edwards, J. P. R. Williams and Phil Bennett who were known for their feints, sidesteps and attacking running rugby, are regarded as one of the greatest teams in the game – all three players were involved in The greatest try ever scored in 1973. Jonny Wilkinson scored the winning drop goal for England in the last minute of extra time in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final. The major domestic club competitions are the Premiership in England and the Celtic League in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and (since 2010) Italy. Of Cornish origin, the chant “Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi!” is associated with rugby union (and its personalised variant with football); it inspired the “Maggie Maggie Maggie, Out Out Out!" chant by opponents of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. In 1895, rugby league was created in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, as the result of a split with the other Rugby code. The Super League is the sports top-level club competition in Britain, and the sport is especially popular in towns in the northern English counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. The Challenge Cup is the major rugby league cup competition.
Tennis[edit]

Centre Court at Wimbledon. The world's oldest tennis tournament, it has the longest sponsorship in sport with Slazenger supplying tennis balls to the event since 1902.^[299]
The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England in the 1860s, and after its creation, tennis spread throughout the upper-class English-speaking population, before spreading around the world.^[300] Major Walter Clopton Wingfield is credited as being a pioneer of the game.^[301] The world's oldest tennis tournament, the Wimbledon championships, first occurred in 1877, and today the event takes place over two weeks in late June and early July.^[302] Created in the Tudor period in the court of Henry VIII, the English dessert Strawberries and cream is synonymous with the British summer, and is famously consumed at Wimbledon. The tournament itself has a major place in the British cultural calendar. The eight-time Slam winner and Britain's most successful player Fred Perry is one of only seven men in history to have won all four Grand Slam events, which included three Wimbledons.^[303] Virginia Wade won three Grand Slams, the most famous of which was Wimbledon in 1977, the year of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II (the Queen attended Wimbledon for the first time since 1962 to watch the final). The 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion, Scotland's Andy Murray, is Britain's most recent male Grand Slam winner. In 2021, Emma Raducanu became the most recent British female Grand Slam winner.
Boxing[edit]

Featherweight champion ”Prince" Naseem Hamed was a major name in boxing and 1990s British pop culture
The 'Queensberry rules', the code of general rules in boxing, was named after John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry in 1867, that formed the basis of modern boxing.^[304] Britain's first heavyweight world champion Bob Fitzsimmons made boxing history as the sport's first three-division world champion. The 1980s saw the emergence of heavyweight Frank Bruno who would become hugely popular with the British public. In the 1990s, Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn, Steve Collins and Michael Watson had a series of fights against each other in the super-middleweight division, drawing audiences of up to 20 million in the UK. Eubank's eccentric personality made him one of the most recognisable celebrities in the UK along with the cocky ”Prince" Naseem Hamed. The Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan fight in 1995 drew 13 million. Other big draw fighters in the UK included Lennox Lewis, Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton.
Cricket[edit]

Cricketer W. G. Grace, with his long beard and MCC cap, was the most famous British sportsman in the Victorian era.
The modern game of cricket was created in England in the 1830s when round arm bowling was legalised, followed by the historical legalisation of overarm bowling in 1864.^[305] In 1876–77, England took part in the first-ever Test match against Australia. Influential to the development of the sport, W. G. Grace is regarded as one of the greatest cricket players, devising most of the techniques of modern batting.^[306] His fame endures; Monty Python and the Holy Grail uses his image as "the face of God" during the sequence in which God sends the knights out on their quest for the grail. The rivalry between England and Australia gave birth to The Ashes in 1882 that has remained Test cricket's most famous contest, and takes place every two years to high television viewing figures. The County Championship is the domestic competition in England and Wales. England have hosted the Cricket World Cup five times, and are the reigning champions, having won in 2019.